U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,678 discloses an apparatus for shaping a round body consisting of a dough coating and a filling, which comprises an assembly comprising a plurality of circumferentially disposed members combined to shape a spheroidal body. Each of the members has at least two sliding surfaces, and they are so combined that a sliding surface of one member is slidable on a sliding surface of another member, that the opening is closed and opened by sliding the members, and that the opening is confined by walls consisting of the inwardly exposed part of the sliding surfaces of the members and is of a cross-sectional area, when the opening is fully open, sufficient to pass a cylindrical body passing therethrough.
While shaping a spheroidal body through the assembly of slidable members is effective, particularly in precluding a member from intruding into the body, it has certain disadvantages. Because of the structural conditions of the assembly, the number of slidable members is limited to up to about six, so that only polygonally-shaped products have been obtained. The external appearance of these polygonal products falls far below that of those hand-shaped spherical ones. Further, owing to mechanical and dimensional imperfections in the shape of the slidable members, especially when processing a very sticky, soft material, there was also some difficulty in completely preventing materials from adhering to the cutting part, or in uniformly and neatly shaping a spherical product.
Accordingly, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a new and improved apparatus for cutting and shaping a spherical body.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide an improved apparatus for cutting and shaping a spherical body using a new shutter or iris mechanism comprising a number of rotatable polygonal members.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide an improved apparatus for cutting and shaping a spherical body which completely precludes coatings or fillings from adhering to the cutting members through new specially configured polygonal members.